198
COWLEY'S POEMS.
[B. I.
"The jocund orbs shall break their measur'd pace,
"And stubborn poles change their allotted place;
"Heaven's gilded troops shall flutter here and there,
"Leaving their boasting songs tun'd to a sphere;
"Nay, their God too for fear he did, when we 185
"Took noble arms against his tyranny,
"So noble arms, and in a cause so great,
"That triumphs they deserve for their defeat.
"There was a day I oh might I see 't again,
"Though he had fiercer flames to thrust us in! 190
"And can such powers be by a child withstood?
"Will slings, alas! or pebbles, do him good?
"What th' untam'd lion, wet with hunger too,
"And giants, could not, that my word shall do:
"I'11 soon dissolve this peace; were Saul's new love
"(But Saul we know) great as my hate shall prove,
"Before their sun twice more be gone about,
"I and my faithful snakes would drive it out.
"By me, Cain offer'd up his brother's gore,
"A sacrifice far worse than that before; 200
"I saw him fling the stone, as if he meant
"At once his murder and his monument,
"And laugh'd to see (for 't was a goodly show)
"The earth by her first tiller fatten'd so:
"I drove proud Pharaoh to the parted sea; 205
"He and his host drank up cold death by me:
"By me rebellious arms fierce Corah took,
"And Moses (curse upon that name!) forsook;
"Hither (ye know) almost alive he came
"Through the cleft earth; ours was his funeral flame:
"And stubborn poles change their allotted place;
"Heaven's gilded troops shall flutter here and there,
"Leaving their boasting songs tun'd to a sphere;
"Nay, their God too for fear he did, when we 185
"Took noble arms against his tyranny,
"So noble arms, and in a cause so great,
"That triumphs they deserve for their defeat.
"There was a day I oh might I see 't again,
"Though he had fiercer flames to thrust us in! 190
"And can such powers be by a child withstood?
"Will slings, alas! or pebbles, do him good?
"What th' untam'd lion, wet with hunger too,
"And giants, could not, that my word shall do:
"I'11 soon dissolve this peace; were Saul's new love
"(But Saul we know) great as my hate shall prove,
"Before their sun twice more be gone about,
"I and my faithful snakes would drive it out.
"By me, Cain offer'd up his brother's gore,
"A sacrifice far worse than that before; 200
"I saw him fling the stone, as if he meant
"At once his murder and his monument,
"And laugh'd to see (for 't was a goodly show)
"The earth by her first tiller fatten'd so:
"I drove proud Pharaoh to the parted sea; 205
"He and his host drank up cold death by me:
"By me rebellious arms fierce Corah took,
"And Moses (curse upon that name!) forsook;
"Hither (ye know) almost alive he came
"Through the cleft earth; ours was his funeral flame:
